The present invention provides a tool for placing a lid or closure on a cup or similar container, in a fast, efficient, and sanitary manner. Conventionally, lids have been placed on cups entirely manually, grasping an individual lid with the fingers of one hand, and placing the lid on the cup, and pressing the lid downwardly either with the tips of the fingers or with the flat of the palm of the hand. According to the present invention, the operation is still manual in the sense that the tool is manipulated by hand, but it is non-manual in the sense that the individual lid is not touched by the hand at any stage of the capping or lid-placing operation.
The use of a tool for placing the lid, rather than handling it with the fingers, has four major advantages. First, it is faster. Second, it saves space and improves the general appearance of the area of the food service establishment where the operation is performed. Third, it is more sanitary. Fourth, it promotes uniformity of sealing.
As for speed, manual capping (putting on the lid) is inherently slow. Lids are shipped to the restaurant stacked in plastic or paper tubes. In the restaurant these stacks are removed from the plastic tubes and thrown helter-skelter into a bin since it would take too much time for the counter girl to separate and remove an individual lid from the stack in the plastic container. Yet, though picking up lids that have been tossed into a bin is faster than picking up lids off a stack, a time-study has shown that an average of 2.2 seconds of time is consumed by picking up a lid from a bin, placing it on a hot-drink container, and engaging it into a sealing position.
By use of the closing tool of this invention, the time required for capping is reduced to an average of 0.7 seconds. Additional time is saved by eliminating the necessity of disassembling the stack so as to place it into the bin.
In the fast-food industry, speed is of utmost importance, especially so during rush hours. Customers object to losing a portion of their lunch break by waiting in line at the cash register, and restaurant owners are therefore obliged to hire additional help during rush hours. While 1.5 seconds may not appear to a large time span, it is an important cost factor when large numbers of customers are to be served during a brief time period.
With regard to space and general appearance, a bin supplied for lids consumes a certain amount of space and space is at a premium in a fast food restaurant. Also, the appearance of a large heap of lids is unattractive. With the present invention, a small circular cut-out in the counter top is the only visible part of a column of lids stacked below the countertop in a spring loaded magazine type dispenser which occupies far less space than a bin of lids. Fast food restaurants are usually located in high priced real estate areas and a saving of several cubic feet of space is therefore an advantage to the restaurant operator.
Regarding the factor of sanitation, the most common way of capping is that of grasping the lid between the thumb and index and middle fingers, the thumb usually touching that lid surface which touches or is near the liquid after closing. The lid is thus lightly placed on top of the container and, in a second operation, grasped around its periphery and depressed on the container to obtain a sealing engagement. Since the same counter girl often handles dirty dishes, rags, and money in the cash register, a situation undesirable from the point of view of sanitary conditions is therefore generally existing throughout the fast food industry. This condition is often noted and objected to by customers.
According to the present invention, the lid is never touched by human hands, except those of the ultimate consumer, and at that the consumer will not touch the lid in an area which contacts the beverage. Since the tool touches only the lid on the outside, i.e., the surface away from the beverage, maximum hygenic conditions are thereby obtained.
With regard to proper sealing of the lid to the cup, it is a well known fact that product quality decreases as the speed of productivity increases during manual operations since the human machine has it obvious limitations. As the rush hour pressure increases and fatigue sets in, more and more carry out beverage containers are improperly sealed. While under normal conditions only a few containers are improperly sealed, during the latter part of a rush hour a great number of containers are sealed in a manner where during subsequent transportation liquid escapes from the container. This is not only attributable to speed and fatigue but also due to the hot air escaping from the vent hole commonly used in lids. This hot air, blowing towards the palm of the hand of the operator, induces an element of fear which counteracts the motive to obtain a proper closure.
It is an important purpose of this invention to overcome all of these above shortcomings, since through the use of this tool the dependence upon human variables in the closing operation is greatly reduced. The tool gives the counter girl a clear signal that proper closure has been obtained. In the preferred version the signal is audible and can thus in addition be discerned by a nearby supervisor, or even the customer himself can hear by the sound that his cup of coffee has been properly sealed. Uniformity of proper sealing is thus obtained regardless of speed of operation, operator fatigue, or poor operator attitude or dexterity.
A basic purpose of this invention is therefore to close and properly and uniformly seal carry out beverage containers by means of a simple, inexpensive yet effective tool which increases capping speed, saves space, enhances appearance, and eliminates spillage by always proper and uniform sealing, all of which reduces costs of restaurant operation, reduces hardships of restaurant employees, and increases the satisfaction of restaurant patrons.
Three of many possible designs of such a tool are outlined as follows:
For proper sealing a certain amount of force is required, depending upon size and configuration of the lid. Since fatigue results from the application of force, especially so under rush conditions, two of the designs embody features of mechanical advantage. In the preferred version, a portable model, a small amount of force applied over a relatively long distance is stored in a spring and then suddenly released in a hammer blow, which delivers far more ultimate sealing force than an operator would be capable of furnishing without such mechanical advantage, especially so over a prolonged period of time. Another embodiment accomplishes the same end by means of a simple lever, which, however requires a tool of a larger size, which is disadvantageous due to space limitations, and also is slower since it requires placing of both cup and lid into the tool. Still another embodiment constitutes the most simple and inexpensive design, which, however, is best used wherever the sealing force required is minimal.
It may be mentioned that the preferred form of the present tool is particularly but not exclusively suitable for use with lids of the type disclosed in my U.S. Pat. No. 3,722,784, granted Mar. 27, 1973. Such lids, as fully explained in the patent, have an upstanding marginal flange which fits snugly within the side walls of the cup, to provide a tight seal between the cup and the lid. Furthermore, at the top of the upstanding flange which mates with the inner surface of the cup, the lid has an outwardly flared flange which, when depressed, serves to release the pressure of the upstanding flange against the inner surface of the cup, thus permitting easy removal of the lid from the cup by a simple upward motion.
With such lids, it is important to place the lid in position on the filled cup with just the right amount of pressure, applied in the right place. If not enough pressure is used, the lid will not seal the cup sufficiently to prevent spillage of the contents. If too much pressure is used, either the lid or the cup or both may be damaged, such as by formation of cracks, again resulting in spillage of the contents. If pressure is applied to the obliquely extending rim of the lid, when attempting to place the lid on the cup, this releases the pressure between the lid and the cup so that the cup is not tightly sealed.
It has already been mentioned that in a busy food service establishment, possibly with lines of customers waiting to be served, the clerk filling orders for take-out beverages does not have much time to give individual attention to each order. Especially if the beverage being served is hot, such as coffee, the clerk tends to avoid or minimize contact with the cup, to avoid being burned, and so is inclined simply to place the lid rather loosely on the top of the cup, without much attention to seating it firmly on the cup in a properly sealed manner. Moreover, the natural tendency is to extend the flat of the hand across the top of the lid and push it down lightly. With lids of the particular type disclosed in the above mentioned patent, this would produce downward pressure on the oblique flange on the lid, thus releasing the lid instead of making it tight.
The preferred form of the present invention provides a tool which the clerk can use in a very fast and easy manner, to pick up a lid from a stack of such lids, and place it on the cup with the right amount of pressure applied in the right place, to produce effective sealing of the lid to the cup, without having to come into contact with the hot cup containing a beverage at a high temperature, and without producing any pressure on the oblique marginal rim or flange of the lid, which pressure, in this particular type of lid, would release it rather than tighten it.